Superfan Guide: Lessons from KATSEYE, Olivia Dean & Leon Thomas

Superfan Guide: Lessons from Grammy Best New Artist nominees KATSEYE, Olivia Dean and Leon Thomas

Winner Olivia Dean and all of the 2026 Grammy Best New Artist nominees share a common thread: they aren’t just releasing music; they are building fanbases through intentional engagement.

To win a Grammy and just to build any kind of sustainable career, you have to turn passive discovery into active fandom. Spotify For Artists complied this guide to how KATSEYE, Olivia Dean, and Leon Thomas create deep emotional bonds with their listeners.

How KATSEYE Uses Spotify Clips for Fan Participation

For the global pop group KATSEYE, the music release strategy focused on participation rather than just anticipation. They treated their EP 'BEAUTIFUL CHAOS' like an event where the audience had a backstage pass.

The Strategy: KATSEYE utilized a Spotify Countdown Page as a central hub for pre-release hype. By populating the page with Spotify Clips, they shared the "making of" their music videos and personal stories.
The SEO Insight: By using short-form video content within the streaming app, they bypassed the "social media drop-off," where fans see a clip on TikTok but never actually click through to listen.
The Result: A Spotify for Artists Marketing Award and a fanbase that was already "pulled in" to replay and save the EP on day one.

Olivia Dean: Using Visual Content to Deepen the Fan Experience

Olivia Dean’s win for Best New Artist wasn't just about the songs on 'The Art of Loving". It was about the world she built around them. She showed that high-quality visual content is the best way to keep a listener from scrolling past.

The Strategy: Dean gave every track a unique Spotify Canvas and supplemented the album with Live Room performances. Her Countdown Page acted as a digital storefront, featuring a revealed tracklist and themed merch.
The SEO Insight: "Stickiness" is the new stream count. By providing multiple ways to "step into" the album, she stayed on the Countdown Charts as the #3 most pre-saved album of her release week.
The Result: High audience retention and a listener base that feels a personal connection to the artist's visual brand.

Leon Thomas: Converting Global Discovery into Sustainable Fandom

Leon Thomas shows us how to handle a "viral" influx of listeners. After his EP "PHOLKS" landed on major global playlists, he focused on converting listeners into superfans.

The Strategy: Landing on RADAR and RNB X gave Thomas reach in 180 countries. To keep that momentum, he used Spotify OUTSIDE performances to give new fans a reason to stay.
The SEO Insight: Playlisting is the "top of the funnel." To move fans toward the bottom—where they buy tickets and merch—you need contextual content like live sessions and storytelling.
The Result: Nearly 3 million streams from RNB X alone, with high repeat-listen rates across a global audience.

The Shift to "Active Listeners"

As we move further into 2026, the industry is shifting its focus from vanity metrics (total streams) to Active Monthly Listeners (AML). Tools like About the Song and SongDNA are becoming the new standard for digital music marketing.

Industry Note: Fans don't just connect with songs; they connect with the people and stories behind them. High-fidelity video and deep-dive metadata are the bridge to that connection.